Optical modules have been conventionally used for coupling light emitted from semiconductor lasers to optical fibers. In an optical module, lasers and lenses corresponding thereto are arranged and each laser beam is optically coupled into an optical fiber.
A flexible tube has been provided at an optical fiber drawer part, where an optical fiber is drawn out from a housing of the optical module. Using the flexible tube can prevent the optical fiber from fracturing or the like due to sudden bending at the optical fiber drawer part (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H05-341138 (JP-A-H05-341138), for example).
The conventional drawer structure, however, uses a tube made of rubber or the like to protect the optical fiber, which leads to a complex structure with too many components and a high cost. Also, if optical output power continues to improve, cladding mode light of the optical fiber may leak to the tube outside the optical fiber and there is a fear that the tube may be heated and deteriorated or burned.
The presently disclosed embodiments are made in view of such problems. Its object is to provide a drawer structure of an optical fiber from an optical module, having a simple structure in which optical fiber fracturing hardly occurs, and the like.